Beyond the Stars' Reach
by Bamboofoxfire Productions
Summary: A Prophecy foretold there would be three, kin of Firestar with the power of the stars in their paws. With Hollyleaf dead, they knew it must've been Dovekit or Ivykit, but then an unseen disaster brought the death of both cats. FULL SUMMARY INSIDE.


Summary: A prophecy foretold that there would be Three, kin of Firestar with the power of the stars in their paws, and with Hollyleaf dead, they knew it must've been Dovekit or Ivykit, but then an unseen disaster brought the death of both cats. With only two kin of Firestar's left that could ever possibly be one of the three, how can the prophecy ever be fulfilled? Was every hope Jayfeather ever had for their destiny nothing but false hope? Or will the prophecy be fulfilled in ways he never expected?

**Authors Note:** Just a little idea that came to mind after reading part of _The Power of Three_(I read _Eclipse_ and _Long Shadows_ after I read the _Omen of the Stars: The Fourth Apprentice_ and _Fading Echoes_ ;P ). I really wanted to write something about Jayfeather since he's really freakin' awesome. This is between the last book in _The Power of Three_, _Sunrise _and the first book in _Omen of the Stars, The Fourth Apprentice._

Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own warriors, it belongs to Erin Hunter XP

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**Beyond the Stars' Reach  
****A WARRIORS of the Forest Fanfiction  
****By: Kougetsu_KitsuneHinote_Hakuma**

**Prologue**

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"_Help! Someone help! It's _a fox!" Jayfeather started awake as he heard a yowl echo around camp, stumbling out of his nest in the medicine cat's den. Emerging from it, he could only guess it was still night, the air was cold and no sunlight warmed his pelt, and reaching out his senses, many of the other cats were delirious with sleep and confused as they appeared outside as well.

Jayfeather felt anxiety and urgency coming from Firestar, hearing the leader leaping down the rocks, his pelt on end.

"Where's the fox?" Firestar demanded, wide awake and alert.

"It's not anywhere near the warriors, apprentices, or elder's den." Brambleclaw, the Clan's deputy reported. That only left one place.

_The nursery!_ Jayfeather realized suddenly, charging away toward the nursery. His paw snagged on a bramble as he tried to push his way inside, cursing his blindness. This was no time to get tangled in the nursery walls! Finally freeing himself, he pushed his way inside.

To his horror, the scent of blood reached his nose, along with the strong stench of fox. He remembered it well from when he and his siblings had tried to hunt down a bunch of fox pups as kits, before they realized that the foxes were too much for them to handle. The memory sent his fur on end, before Firestar and Brambleclaw pushed past him, their pelts fluffed up.

He sensed a wave of fury and horror coming off the two cats before Birchfall, Graystripe, and Sandstorm followed, hissing in warning. A moment later Jayfeather felt grief sweep over Birchfall.

"NO!" he screeched. Jayfeather felt dust from the nursery floor spray his pelt and imagined the warrior launching himself toward the fox.

"Birchfall, don't!" Sandstorm meowed urgently. The fox let out a snarl and Jayfeather heard sand and bedding hitting the floor as Birchfall fought, before the medicine cat heard a pained screech from Birchfall.

"ThunderClan, attack!" Firestar yowled, launching himself into battle with Brambleclaw, Graystripe, and Sandstorm close behind. Jayfeather heard more snarls that weren't cats and felt as though the ground were falling out from under him in shock.

_Great StarClan, there's at least three foxes!_ He silently howled. They must have broken through the bramble wall somehow. Suddenly, Cloudtail, Thornclaw, and Lionblaze could be heard fighting, the camp suddenly filled with howls and hisses.

Frozen to the spot, Jayfeather reached out with his senses, trying to figure out what was happening. Firestar and Sandstorm were double-teaming the fox that Birchfall had attacked while Birchfall recovered from an injury. Brambleclaw, Spiderleg, and Berrynose were overpowering a second fox nearby and cornering it in a dense corner of the nursery, hissing and spitting.

Graystripe was fighting fiercely, sending strong blows toward a third fox while Thornclaw leaped on its back and raked his claws down its red pelt, earning howls of pain from it.

_There couldn't be-_ Jayfeather's thoughts cut off as he sensed Lionblaze, Cloudtail, and Dustpelt all attacking a fourth fox. Cloudtail had a minor wound and Dustpelt had been bitten deeply, but still fought well. Lionblaze was unharmed and fighting like all the warriors of LionClan were guiding his paws.

Squirrelflight, Cinderheart, Foxleap, and Brackenfur were driving the last fox back, quickly instilling fear and uncertainty.

_Five foxes!_ Jayfeather gasped. How could something like this happen? It was rare to find one fox in their territory, let alone five, especially in one place. _And they're attacking the camp!_

Before long they'd beaten off the five foxes and sent them crashing back into the forest, panting and exhaustedly.

"Brambleclaw, have Jayfeather check your wounds, then gather a patrol and search the area around camp, make sure they've gone. Sorreltail, Brightheart, Hazeltail, and Icecloud, guard the thorn tunnel. Everyone else who fought, see Jayfeather for your injuries." Firestar ordered curtly.

Jayfeather left the nursery, heading to the medicine den to gather the needed herbs. Sniffing over the other cats, he told those with more minor injuries what to use and how to mend their wounds while taking care of the cats with more serious injuries.

Firestar had a long cut down his belly. Graystripe and Thornclaw each had injured paws, Graystripe having a mild bite while Thornclaw had twisted his.

One of the foxes had bit deep into Dustpelt's chest and foreleg, and Foxleap had gotten his tail bitten. Brambleclaw and Cloudtail had torn ears, Spiderleg, Berrynose, and Cinderheart had only gotten scratches, and Sandstorm, Squirrelflight, Brackenfur, and Lionblaze sustained no injuries at all.

_That only leaves Birchfall's wounds, checking the queens and kits, and giving them something for shock._ Jayfeather thought. Jayfeather was about to head to the nursery when he detected Birchfall and Whitewing approaching, panic ruffling their pelts. Jayfeather stood and waited for them to stop in front of him.

"They aren't moving!" Birchfall wailed helplessly. Jayfeather picked up the scent of Dovekit and Ivykit, his fur bristling in alarm.

"What happened to them?" Jayfeather demanded tightly.

"The…the f-foxes…they got them before I could get them away!" Whitewing cried in dismay. Jayfeather sniffed over the limp bodies of the two kits.

_Oh please, StarClan, don't take them yet!_ Jayfeather was still as stone. _No! This can't be happening! Why? Why did this happen?_ He felt like he needed to wail like a lost kit.

"Well?" Whitewing asked, hope and anguish filling her mew.

"I'm sorry Whitewing…they're with StarClan now…" Jayfeather announced heavily. Whitewing cried out in despair and bundled the lifeless kits to her, curling around them. Jayfeather barely registered his brother approach.

"What's happened?" Lionblaze demanded.

"Dovekit and Ivykit….they're dead…" Jayfeather meowed, his voice hollow.

"_Dead_?" Lionblaze repeated. He paused and Jayfeather guessed he was looking at Whitewing and her kits' as if he didn't believe it before looking back. "Then what about…?" He trailed off.

"I don't know…" Jayfeather replied after a pause, his paws feeling heavy as stone and unmovable.

_If Dovekit and Ivykit are dead…then what about the prophecy?_

* * *

"Why didn't you stop it?" Jayfeather hissed, swiping his claws in an arc toward the matted gray she-cat. Yellowfang leapt away from his claws, narrowing her eyes and bearing her fangs at the young tom.

"Don't you think we would have if it was up to us?" Yellowfang retorted, lashing her tail. "StarClan aren't all-powerful or control everything! You should know that more than anyone else, Jayfeather!"

"But you could have _warned_ us! Maybe StarClan would have been powerless to do anything but we aren't! We could have driven them off, or guarded the nursery so that Dovekit and Ivykit wouldn't die! _Why didn't you warn us_?" Jayfeather demanded, sinking his claws into the earth to keep himself from launching at the old ThunderClan medicine cat.

Yellowfang narrowed her eyes but said nothing, her tail lashing more slowly now.

"You didn't know…" Jayfeather breathed, shaking from ear to tail-tip. "You didn't know it was going to happen!" He snarled more loudly. "How can StarClan protect us when they can't even predict a fox attack? Now the prophecy will _never_ be fulfilled!"

Yellowfang let out a furious hiss, unsheathing her claws.

"The prophecy, oh, the _prophecy_!" Yellowfang mocked, her voice taking on a whiny quality. "That's all you care about! This has nothing to do with the fact that two ThunderClan kits died, or that your Clan was put in danger. It's always about the _prophecy_!" She sneered. "The _prophecy _is so important that you could probably have ThunderClan, or all the Clan's fall down around your paws, and so long as you fulfilled the _prophecy, _that's all that matters to you!" She hissed, spitting the word 'prophecy' like it was poison on her tongue.

"That's not tru-" Jayfeather began to object, but Yellowfang cut him off.

"You've never even _considered_ that perhaps the prophecy has _nothing_ to do with you, have you?"

Jayfeather bristled uncertainly but did his best to hide this.

"Of course it has to do with me!" Jayfeather retorted. "I'm kin of Firestar's kin, I have powers no other cat has, and StarClan has no power to interfere with any of my abilities! I walked in the dreams of other cats where you said I wasn't welcome, but you couldn't stop me from doing it! I've walked path's no other cat alive has. Lionblaze can't be hurt in battle by anything! All of that points to us being two of the Three!"

"Or perhaps not!" Yellowfang retorted. "It's unusual to have such abilities, but they could just be a coincidence. The prophecy was given to Firestar long before any of you were born, even before Squirrelflight and Leafpool were born. The prophecy could refer to _any_ cat related to Firestar! For all you know, the cat's with these destinies will be born _long_ after you've grown old and died!"

Jayfeather dug his claws deeper into the ground, trying to stop the shaking throughout his whole body. He was filled with rage but underneath it there was fear.

"You're lying! You know Lionblaze and I are part of the prophecy!" Jayfeather hissed, his voice cracking.

"Am I?" Yellowfang challenged, her eyes gleaming in triumph. "I've never told you for sure whether you're the cats that are prophesized or not. I may have left hints or not answered, but I never confirmed _anything_." She growled. Jayfeather felt small and uncertain. Swallowing his fear, he forced himself to sound and appear more calm.

"Then tell me…are Lionblaze and I part of the prophecy?" He asked, meeting her gaze defiantly. Yellowfang was silent for a long time, and Jayfeather wondered whether or not she would avoid the question again. Finally she narrowed her eyes at him.

"No, you are not."

* * *

Jayfeather stirred from his sleep, not even bothering to shake the moss from his nest off his pelt and stumbled out into the sunlight. Despite the warmth soaking his pelt the blind medicine cat shivered. Yellowfang's revelation struck deep and he was convinced that Yellowfang spoke the truth.

If he and Lionblaze were not part of the Three, then what had he been searching and hoping for all these long moons? It had been the prophecy that kept him going as he had been.

'_There will be Three, kin of your kin, that hold the power of the star's in their paws.'_

How had he been so stupid? Just because they were kin to Firestar didn't mean the prophecy was meant for them! He had held high hopes to become strong, stronger than StarClan or any cats before him. If not for that stupid prophecy, he was sure also that nothing that had happened so far would have happened at all.

He wouldn't have had to become a medicine cat, he would never have met Fallen Leaves and Rock in the tunnels or the Tribe of Endless Hunting. WindClan and RiverClan would not have attacked ThunderClan through the underground tunnels, and Sol probably wouldn't have almost destroyed ShadowClan.

To top the list was that they never would have learned Leafpool and Crowfeather were their real parents, and his sister Hollyleaf would still be alive.

_I wish I'd never heard of this stupid prophecy!_

Jayfeather was brought out of his thoughts by the scent of the hunting patrol returning. He sensed Lionblaze was looking at him, his brother quickly dropping his catch before racing over.

"We need to talk. About what we're going to do about the prophecy now that Dovekit and…"

"Don't bother." Jayfeather hissed, lashing his tail and glaring heatedly at Lionblaze, taking him off guard. "The prophecy doesn't matter for us."

"What are you saying? Of course it does, it's _everything_ for us! We're part of the Three!" Lionblaze protested.

"No, we aren't!" Jayfeather snarled, his fur puffing up. "I know now that the prophecy was never meant for us! StarClan sent those foxes themselves to make sure we got the message!" Jayfeather lied. _They might as well have, and besides, who cares if it's a lie? We aren't involved in the prophecy!_

"StarClan did?" Lionblaze repeated, shocked to the core. "They would do that?"

"What does it matter?" Jayfeather retorted. "Hollyleaf is dead, Dovekit and Ivykit are dead, and everything we ever believed in was in vain!" He hissed, getting up and stalking to the thorn tunnel.

_Everything I put my hopes in has forsaken me! Why? Without the prophecy, I'm nothing but I blind cat!_

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**Authors Note(2): **I'm going to have fun writing this heh heh…please **REVIEW!**

~Kou


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